The health benefits of soybeans have been known for some time. For centuries, soybeans have been the primary source of protein in Asian countries, and in recent years the popularity of soy-based products has increased in the U.S. Along with a tendency to lower cholesterol levels, soybeans have recently been linked with, or suggested as having a possible role in, inhibiting cancerous or tumor cells. Additionally, soy protein contains an amino acid profile that is among the most complete of all vegetable protein sources, and resembles, with the exception of the sulfur-containing amino acids, the pattern derived from high-quality animal protein sources. Thus, efforts have been made to incorporate soy into a wide variety of foods.
Examples of efforts to utilize soy proteins in salad dressings include U.S. Pat. No. 4,163,808 (use of soy proteins as the sole or dominant emulsifier); U.S. Pat. No. 4,304,795 (use of soybean protein in a semisolid egg yolk-free dressing); U.S. Pat. No. 4,426,395 (use of a partial hydrolyzate of alcohol denatured soybean protein as an emulsifier); U.S. Pat. No. 4,794,015 (use of a glycero phospholipid which contained at least about 40 percent mono acyl glycero phospholipid to prepare an oil-in-water emulsion of soy sauce and fat or oil); U.S. Pat. No. 4,431,629 (preparation of an egg white substitute from defatted soy bean material using proteolytic hydrolysis followed by ultrafiltration; the egg white substitute reported to have superior emulsifying ability, good nutritional value, and no bitter taste); and U.S. Pat. No. 4,757,007 (obtained hydrolyzed soy protein using a protease enzyme followed by a separation step to recover both low and high solubility hydrolyzed soy protein; the low solubility hydrolyzed soy protein was reported to have excellent emulsifying properties)
Examples of efforts to utilize soy proteins in cheese or cheese-like products include, for example, U.S. Pat. No. 4,080,477 (a process cheese-like product containing soy cheese); U.S. Pat. No. 4,284,656 (a curd product derived by water extraction of protein from a defatted soy bean followed by coagulation of the protein to form curds and whey; curd product can be mixed with or incorporated into cheese); U.S. Pat. No. 4,303,691 (stimulated cheese containing soy protein); U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,349,576 and 4,345,438 (vegetable protein isolates, including soy protein isolates, which can be incorporated into imitation cheese products); U.S. Pat. No. 4,556,569 (cheese analog product prepared from soy milk, vegetable oil, dairy whey, caseinate, and water); and U.S. Pat. No. 5,858,449 (isoflavone-enriched soy protein product which can be used as an ingredient in cheese products (as well as other food products)).
It would be desirable to provide other methods and compositions whereby the beneficial effects of soybeans can be incorporated into food products. It would also be desirable to provide methods and compositions whereby soy proteins can be used to replace sodium caseinate or other dairy proteins in imitation dairy compositions, including dips. The present invention provides such methods and compositions.